230 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



realized when we compare our own meager notes of these 

 birds, and indeed of all the herons, with the remarks made 

 by Kalm in the middle of the last century. " Cranes," 

 he says, at the beginning of the century (1700), "came 

 hither [along the Delaware] by hundreds in the spring; 

 at present [1748] there are but very few ; and," he adds 

 in a foot-note, " when Captain Amadas, the iirst English- 

 man that ever landed in North America, set foot on shore 

 (to use his own words), 'such a flocke of Cranes (the 

 most part white) arose under us with such a cry, redou- 

 bled by many echoes, as if an armie of men had shouted 

 together.' J: In a subsequent notice of our herons he 

 says, under date of February 17, 1749: "Cranes were 

 sometimes seen flying in the day-time to the northward. 

 They commonly stop here early in the spring for a short 

 time, but they do not make their nests here, for they 

 proceed on more to the north. Certain old Swedes told 

 me that, in their younger years, as the country was not 

 yet much cultivated, an incredible number of cranes were 

 here every spring, but at present (1749) they are not so 

 numerous." As Kalm here refers to the western sand- 

 hill crane, it is a matter of much interest, for this bird has 

 not been known east of the Alleghanies, except as strag- 

 glers, during the present century. 



But to return to the white herons. My studies of 

 the habits of birds during the past twenty years have fre- 

 quently suggested to me that when any bird or flock of 

 birds deliberately choose to frequent a very limited local- 

 ity for a comparatively long time, notwithstanding the 

 danger occasioned by the presence of man, their habits 

 would show the possession of faculties that can not be 

 considered simply instinctive, but which indicate the ex- 

 ercise of unusual care, forethought, and deliberation, in 

 their endeavors to avoid real or supposed dangers from 



